Marathon Man: Hugh Hefner

Quick Bio

A man who gets to call a bathrobe his business attire must be doing something right. But underneath the façade of the girls, the mansion, the cigars, the limos, and the infamous robes -- figuratively speaking, of course -- is a man with a indestructible activist heart. For 57 years and counting, Hugh Hefner has helped America embrace its sexuality as the editor-in-chief of Playboymagazine. And while our puritanical values still need a little purging, at least married couples no longer sleep in twin beds and birth control is delightfully mainstream. AskMen spoke exclusively to Hugh Hefner on the eve of his 84th birthday about his lengthy career, his relationship with Crystal Harris, his thoughts on Tiger Woods and Jesse James, and why Kate Gosselin will never be in Playboy.

When you started Playboy, did you know it would be a passion that would consume so much of your time?

Hugh Hefner: When I started the magazine in 1953, I had no money -- literally no money. I borrowed $600 from a loan company and a bank and got people to invest. The total investment in Playboy was just $8,000. From that, I launched the very first issue. I had enough money just for the very first issue. I had no idea. All I hoped for at that point, quite frankly, was that the magazine would be successful enough so that I could continue to do what I loved.

What were you doing (as an occupation or job) when you started?

HH: I was working fora children’s magazine as a circulation manager, Children’s Activities. That was my day job, and then I created the magazine at night.

Did you need a support system of family and friends?

HH: The staff was my art director and myself for the first issue. I had letterhead typed up and sent out letters as the circulation manager, the editor and the advertising director, etc. They were all me. Once the first issue caught on and we were able to put out a second, a wholesaler came to us and gave us a little financial support, and we were able to go on from there. But most certainly on another level, my family was very supportive. My brother and my mother were the two largest investors in the magazine. I actually went out in August of 1953 and asked my father whether or not he would invest in the magazine or loan me some money. He was a conservative CPA -- public accountant -- and he didn’t think it was a good business investment. He declined. As I was departing, my mother took me aside and said that she had some money of her own because she had worked during the war. She gave me a check for $1,000. That money went directly to purchasing the rights of the Marilyn Monroe calendar.

How do you maintain your physical and mental health as you pursue what could be termed "an obsession?" Did you have a daily routine or fixed schedule?

HH: I was working around the clock, but the thing that was most memorable about that was, once I started working on the magazine I felt that I had come home. I felt as if I was doing the thing I was destined to do. It was a labor of love from the very beginning. It remains a labor of love today. I’m about the celebrate my 84th birthday, and the reason I’m still active and still editing the magazine is because I do love the work, and it keeps me young.

Had you not maintained your position as the editor over the years, do you think Playboy would still be around?

HH: It’s difficult to say. I think it is a very, very successful brand and, on a certain level, although the magazine itself and magazines in general are not as popular as they once were because the internet and other things have replaced them, the brand itself -- Playboy -- is more popular and more widely recognized today than any other time in history.

What are some obstacles that you encountered that our readers may relate to in pursuit of their own passions? How did you overcome them?

HH: The major concern that I had but it turned out not to be one of any real problem was that I didn’t have any money. The magazine was popular so immediately and successful so immediately that the reason that I’m here is because it was successful in the very beginning -- because you shouldn’t be able to start a magazine with no money. There were forces at play. The 1950s was a very conservative decade. Magazines and newspapers needed second-class mailing permits for subscribers. The post office had historically taken the position that they were the arbiters of taste and censorship in America. They initially denied me a second-class mailing permit. I actually had to go to court and, in effect, take the post office out of the censorship business. I won that case.

How did you handle criticism over the years?

HH: Quite frankly, when you do something that changes the way of things -- from my point of view, I was not creating a sex magazine; I was creating a lifestyle magazine that incorporated sexuality as a natural part of it. The fact that there would be people objecting to that I understood very well, and I understand today because I do think, in America, we have very mixed emotional feelings about sexuality. We’re fascinated by it and at the same time we feel guilty about it. Then, of course, the women’s movement came along in the later 1960s with the notion that pinup pictures and nude pictures were exploitation. I felt that was so wrongheaded and silly that it was very difficult to respond properly. The very notion and the objection to the concept that I was turning women into sex objects struck me as very strange because very clearly women are sex objects -- that’s not all they are, but that is a significant part of who they are. If women weren’t sex objects, there would not be another generation. We would not have civilization.

What do you think is one of the most important ways in which Playboy has impacted American culture?

HH: I think the most important impact we’ve had is the change in social and sexual values of our time. Most people don’t remember how very conservative it was back in the 1950s when Playboy began. In moving pictures and on television, even married couples slept in twin beds. Sex was a dirty word in the 1950s, and we helped to change all that.

Where your personal life is concerned, you've always been amazing over the years at juggling multiple girlfriends. What advice would you give to AskMen.com readers who wish to do the same?

HH: I think the answer to relationships -- multiple or otherwise -- is honesty. We have seen in the tabloids a great many sex scandals over this last year. What they underline and what they are all about is cheating, hypocrisy and lying. I think a good relationship -- married or other -- requires honesty.

Tiger Woods and Jesse James both went to rehab for sex addiction. Do you think that’s a real addiction, or is rehab just a way for them to not take full responsibility for their actions?

HH: I think by and large it’s a cop-out. I think “sex addiction” is a convenient phrase for what is really an obsession. Sex is not like a drug or alcohol. It doesn’t affect the physicality in the same way. But it can become very obsessive. Neurotic people can do very foolish things. People make choices. Most people who cheat do it because they think they can get away with it. The real immortality of infidelity is the lying and the cheating, not the sex.

Is there hope for Tiger Woods and Jesse James to save their marriages after all the dishonesty?

HH: Hard to say. With Tiger, I hope so. With Jesse, I don’t think there’s much hope there.

52% of our readers are married. If you could give them one piece of advice to keep their sex lives fresh, what would it be?

HH: I said it before, but I think the most important component of a relationship is honesty and paying attention to the person -- what your mate has in mind and what they really want and need. You have to find ways to make it fresh. For example, tonight I am taking Crystal and a couple of her girlfriends out to Alice In Wonderland. That isn’t something I would do on my own, but I’m doing it for my girl because I love her and I want to keep her happy because she keeps me happy.

I read that you'd still consider marriage to Crystal. Why is marriage still something you’d consider after having two past marriages?

HH: Well, the only reason I consider it is because people ask the question. I tried to phrase it in quite a way to make clear that my own experience with marriage has not been very successful. I do think that one of the problems with marriage if you are romantic is that the emphasis on the relationship starts to change. People start to take one another for granted. When there are children, the children become the focus of the marriage. I’m a romantic and I’m in a very good relationship with Crystal Harris, and I want to keep that as it is. If that requires marriage, then I may get married. But my own inclination is to try to keep the relationship as it is now.

You've managed to stay friends with your ex-girlfriends. What is the key to being friendly with your exes?

HH: That has always been very important to me, and it has to do with the honesty, I think. I feel very badly about people who have major relationships -- married or other -- and then afterward wind up enemies. I think what you’re doing to some extent is cutting out a piece of your own life.

A lot of people make the joke that they read Playboy for the articles. What are some of the most important articles that you’ve published over the years?

HH: Certainly, "The Playboy Interview" historically has been one of the most important must-read portions of the magazine. There was some tabloid brouhaha over an interview we did a couple months ago [with John Mayer]. Some of the classic ones were with Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Jimmy Carter when he was running for president. The interview he did with Playboy became a major focus of the presidential election, but he still got elected.

I know you’re a Democrat. Do you think Barack Obama has changed the lansdscape of America signidficantly?

HH: I am a Democrat and have been since childhood. I am more than pleased to live to see a black man in the White House. I did vote for Obama. I would say, thus far, I am a little disappointed in terms of the Democrats in terms of what they’ve managed to accomplish -- and not accomplish -- over the last year. I hope that the rest of his term will be more successful. Having said all that, he is certainly a big improvement over what we lived through in the previous eight years.

There's still a rumor circulating that Robert Downey Jr. will play you in the movie of your life. Is there any truth to that?

HH: They’re still working on the screenplay, but Robert Downey Jr. did come and sit down with me and talk about it and express interest in it, and I think that he would be a very good choice. I think he’s a very good actor.

I read somewhere that you said that Kate Gosselin would never be in Playboy. What is it about her or someone like her that makes her not Playboy material?

HH: I think we’re talking about trash TV. We’re always interested in the people the readers want to see. I don’t think there’s that much interest in Kate [Gosselin] amongst our readership.

If you hadn’t started Playboy, what do you think you would have dedicated your time to instead?

HH: Difficult to say, but I was so influenced by movies that I may have ended up here in Los Angeles in any case doing something in film.

Do you consider your part in Playboy -- if it ended tomorrow -- would it be complete?

HH: Yes, I think I have lived a full life and then some. I can look back on a life well-lived with a real sense of satisfaction and of accomplishment.

After your birthday party this weekend, what’s next for you?

HH: The next event will be the Playboy of the Year. That will be in mid-May. We’ll be in Las Vegas for that.

We all know that you have the grave plot beside Marilyn Monroe, but what would you like it to read on your tombstone when all is said and done?

HH: I would like to be remembered as someone who played a part in changing the social-sexual values of my time. I think I’m safe in that regard.